After today's terrible performance on my bike at Ft. Ord, I read this thread with some enthusiasm. I think my diet is partly to blame for my current mental (lack of serious interest or enthusiasm for anything) and physical (slow, tired, bleh) state despite being at what I think is a good BMI (6'4", 215lbs).

Nope, you're an omnivore. I don't eat much meat, zero through the week and even on the weekends usually, but today I had a tibeten pork sandwich, which was rare for me. I'd say one meat-meal per week is about my average. I wouldn't ever call myself a vegitarian, as long as I occasionally eat some kind of meat. I've found that cutting out almost all meat doesn't have any negative effect, the problem is that most of us eat way too much meat, far more than we process or "need" as a result of exercise. We think we HAVE to eat meat for every meal, because that's simply how we've always done it. There's a lot of ways to lose weight, but exercising to keep metabolism up, eating less and more frequently to limit calories while still keeping energy up, and just making smart choices that aren't loaded with sodium, sugar, oil or fat make a huge difference. Drink a lot of water too, but those "big three" will likely get great results for anyone. Sticking to it can be tougher. I dropped 60lbs before I started getting a little back as muscle.

It's not that I don't still like a nice steak, hamburger, or roast, it's just that I like myself more

"It's only when you stand over it, you know, when you physically stand over the bike, that then you say 'hey, I don't have much stand over height', you know"-T. Ellsworth

Awesome thread squashyo, this has given me a kick in the pants to get my diet corrected too.
Tomorrow i am going to try the pre-fast diet according to Steven Bailey's book as i've been reading it today. So it looks like he advises going into the juice diet directly after that.

I'll give those recipies everyone provided a try next with my soon to be arriving juicer!
Although i cant give up coffee just yet...

Stoked to hear how it goes Randomroot...coffee was a ***** for me and I had headaches for a couple days but I am now off it entirely and have more energy for it. If you are looking to do a cleanse, I'd try to do it without coffee...I think the whole point is to relieve your system of dealing with the chemicals so they can just chill out for a change and detox. I dunno though...I do think you will find that you absolutely do not 'need' the coffee in the AM because you'll have crazy weird energy and clarity from the cleanse...my $.02 but I aint no expert.

On another topic, my Super Angel 5500 arrived today and just had my first drink...holy crap!!! Hands down, best juice drink I ever had...very stoked about this investment.

Thoughts on why a good juicer is better than a good blender like a vitamix for heath reasons?
My instinct is that its better to eat the whole veggie/friut, but I don't really know.
Thinking of giving this thing a go, better health is more important than ever as we all age.
Thanks.

Thoughts on why a good juicer is better than a good blender like a vitamix for heath reasons?
My instinct is that its better to eat the whole veggie/friut, but I don't really know.
Thinking of giving this thing a go, better health is more important than ever as we all age.
Thanks.

I am not entirely sure but they both have great qualities. The Juicer allows you to consume greater amounts of nutrients in one sitting because that's all you're digesting. Good luck powering down 6 carrots, 6 celery sticks, a large beat, Kale, and an apple with the blender...just too much fiber. And also, the juicer is key to participating in the fast mentioned...the fast is designed to eliminate all fiber and give your internals a break.

However, I hear great things about the blender or full fiber shakes. Still encourages great eating and the fiber is a good thing. You can also power down large quantities of good stuff rather than having to eat it the old fashioned way.

Thoughts on why a good juicer is better than a good blender like a vitamix for heath reasons?
My instinct is that its better to eat the whole veggie/friut, but I don't really know.
Thinking of giving this thing a go, better health is more important than ever as we all age.
Thanks.

The blender is to a juicer what a road bike is to a mtb.

Not sure if that sentence makes any sense whatsoever

But certain things you or maybe its just me, make more sense to be used in a blender
like blueberry, strawberries, bananas and such.

@squashyo, I would be really interested how the blender holds up over time

The kale shake works! I lost 4 pounds this past week and the only thing that has changed in my diet is that I've been drinking 2 kale shakes a day for the past week.
4 pounds in a week for me is a big deal, because it is very hard for me to drop weight.
I'm just using a $50 hand blender and blending up a big handful of kale with stalk's a banana and an orange with enough water to make a shake consistency. If I'm having this shake after a ride I'll put a scoop of protein powder in.
I have high cholesterol that runs in the family and is hard to control without medication. This is why I think the fiber from blending is important to me versus juicing. I need the fiber. The fiber also is keeping me full through the day which is stopping the snacking and probably what is leading to my losing 4 pounds in the past week.
So for those not wanting to spend alot of money on a juicer, don't discount a hand blender. Cheap with low replacment cost, easy to use and fast to clean.

This thread makes me feel like I'm in some weird twilight zone, where all the stuff I did that made me seem weird to other people now feels oddly... mainstream!

Blended vs. Juiced:
Blended drinks are great for your normal, everyday diet. Everyone should have them every day. Juicing is great for a periodic fast/cleanse, or a cleansing daily pre-breakfast ritual. It's important during a fast/cleanse to give your intestines a rest, so you don't want the fiber/roughage. Fruits and veggies are naturally cleansing anyway, so you probably could do a cleanse on 100% blended drinks, but it would be a slow, mild cleanse. In short - both have their purpose, like having a 29'er and a 26'er.

Just a word about food combining: The rules of proper food combining can get really "OCD", like don't mix acid fruits with sweet fruits, (etc.) but meh - doesn't effect me at all. One rule I find useful is to not mix fruits with anything except greens. So, for example, don't have a smoothie with your eggs & toast. The only other big rule worth following (imo) is to not mix grains & proteins - so don't even eat your eggs with toast. Drink the smoothie, wait an hour or so for it to empty the stomach before having anything else. I also don't add protein powders or nuts other weird supplements. Just fruit and greens.

This is a winter blended drink I've been doing lately to boost my immunity and it tastes great!
1 or 2 bananas (or more depending on how hungry you are)
3 peeled tangerines or mandarins - they are awesome this time of year. Navel oranges work, but they are not sweet and tasty enough. I look for citrus where the skin looks loose as they are easier to peel.
Juice from 1/2 a lime squeezed into the blender
1/2 a package of frozen mango chunks (on sale now!)
handful of spinach or chard
teeny tiny bit of water (there's a lot of juice from the citrus)

Greens have a lot of iron (among other vital minerals/electrolytes), and Vitamin C from the citrus helps with iron absorption.

So, I just learned some crazy facts about Romaine Lettuce...the protien part tripped me out:

1 – Protein. Believe it or not, romaine lettuce is 17% protein with 7.7 grams per head. It is also a complete protein! That means that it has all 8 essential amino acids, 9% RDA of some and up to 26% RDA of others.

2 – Calcium. One head of romaine has 206mg of calcium (about 21% RDA). Blend it with calcium rich fruits like papaya and oranges and you’ll get more calcium than a glass of milk!

One of my concerns with 'Juicing' was shrinking testicles...oops, wrong type of juicing. What I meant was, my main concern was maintaining energy& strength during rides. The last few days I have been juicing during the day (3 juices, lots of water) and a sensible dinner (grandma's veggie soup and mushroom/spinach ravioli). Took the SS out on the 3rd morning, and after a breakfast juice I packed a bottle of pear/apple juice and a bottle of water w/squeezed lemon...to make a long story short, I don't think I felt any different from any other ride, but am still curious how I will feel with full-time juicing (I am confident I will feel fine). This ride was only ~18 miles w/just over 2k of climbing. The big test will be a 30+ mile ride with 5k+ of climbing.
My goal, lose 20lbs with juicing and overall diet/lifestyle change. I will post updates on the blog (hey, at least my mother reads it) but will come back here to update periodically.
Many good recipes out there, but my favorite thus far: 1/2 pineapple, 1 orange, 3 mandarins, 1 lemon, 1 lime, ~3/4 thumb of ginger. De-licious!

One of my concerns with 'Juicing' was shrinking testicles...oops, wrong type of juicing. What I meant was, my main concern was maintaining energy& strength during rides. The last few days I have been juicing during the day (3 juices, lots of water) and a sensible dinner (grandma's veggie soup and mushroom/spinach ravioli). Took the SS out on the 3rd morning, and after a breakfast juice I packed a bottle of pear/apple juice and a bottle of water w/squeezed lemon...to make a long story short, I don't think I felt any different from any other ride, but am still curious how I will feel with full-time juicing (I am confident I will feel fine). This ride was only ~18 miles w/just over 2k of climbing. The big test will be a 30+ mile ride with 5k+ of climbing.
My goal, lose 20lbs with juicing and overall diet/lifestyle change. I will post updates on the blog (hey, at least my mother reads it) but will come back here to update periodically.
Many good recipes out there, but my favorite thus far: 1/2 pineapple, 1 orange, 3 mandarins, 1 lemon, 1 lime, ~3/4 thumb of ginger. De-licious!

Please...keep us posted! My concern with this last juice is that it is a great deal of sugar. If you go full juice fast, I would stick with LOTS of carrots, celery, beets, and greens...use fruit sparingly to add slight flavor enhancements. I think you will find yourself sugar crashing with an all fruit juicet and you will find an amazing amount of benefits from all the veggie nutrients.

Speaking of sugar, this video got me off sugar drinks...it's very long but insanely informative:

For those that are juicing, what do you do with all the pulp? I've always thought that the pulp in the fruits you juice, being high in fiber is very good for you. More so than just the juice itself. Also, since it's hard for the body to break down fibre, if you're looking to lose weight a high fibre diet would be a good idea.